Amazon Fresh Irvine Now Open

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Amazon Fresh Irvine Now Open

Post by Bagels »

Last Thursday, Amazon opened its new "Amazon Fresh" market in Irvine. The store is located in the Market Place, right off Jamboree & the 5. It's not new construction; the building previously housed Babies R Us. I've been eagerly awaiting its arrival for months - will it become my primary grocery store?

Earlier in the week, Amazon mailed out a weekly circular. There were no grand opening specials or offers, so presumably Amazon figured the buzz itself would be a big draw. And they were right -- a huge line snaked around the store. But we didn't wait - we came back late into the day and by that point, there was no wait unless you wanted a "dash cart." The "dash cart" is Amazon's smart cart, which supposedly automatically identifies and prices items as you placed them into the cart. We opted for the traditional shipping experience.

The first thing that stands out is the true reason Amazon is building out these stores -- there's more employees shopping (fulfilling orders) than the limited number of customers that were allowed in. The layout of the store is nearly identical to that of most new build Whole Foods: on one side of the store is the produce department, with the meat counter behind it; on the other side is the deli and bakery. The store is slightly smaller than many of its peers in South Orange County, and the aisles were pretty tight. In the COIVD era, they tried to address this by establishing "one way only." (like everybody else tried to do in the spring), but nobody paid attention. The décor is also similar to that of Whole Foods (which is similar to what other grocers have added in recent years). And like Whole Foods, product presentation -- absolutely everything, produce, meat, deli, etc. -- was outstanding.

Produce pricing is very interesting. Some items that most stores sell by the pound -- like bananas, oranges, some apples, etc. -- were sold by the piece, and some items sold by the piece -- like bell peppers -- were sold by the pound. Overall pricing was very average -- most items were priced comparably to Ralphs (some items were more, some less), which means higher than Walmart and ethic grocers (although Walmart and ethic grocers purchase primarily lesser quality produce). Meat and seafood looked fantastic, and prices trended less than Ralphs and Albertsons.

There was a mixture of "Amazon Fresh" and "365" products here -- I assume once volume is built up, the latter will go away. Center aisle goods were priced comparably to Walmart - some less, some more. This includes paper products, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, etc. For example, a bottle of cleaner that my wife "must have" has $3.29 - same as Walmart; it's $4.79 at Ralphs and $5.19 at Albertsons/VONS However... the selection is very limited. The only two traditional laundry detergent brands were Tide and Arm & Hammer... and there were few sub varieties (for example, my wife will only use Tide Ultra and they don't carry it). Unless I missed it, there was no OTC pharmacy section here, so if you need some pain killers or cold medicine, you will have to shop elsewhere.

There's clearly an emphasis on prepared foods within the deli. There's a salad & hot bar set-up, as well as a fairly large eating area, but they're currently closed. A heat-and-serve lasagna entrée for one priced at $7.99, while a hot sandwich was $5.99. Most disappointing to me, there was no store made baked goods - just a bunch of generic offerings with lots of preservatives. Pricing was again average... $4.49 for a six pack of cupcakes, and $3.99 for a dozen cookies.

Checkout was easy. Paper bags are free, and the cashiers bag orders up. They gave a coupon for $10 off $35 on your return visit.

Overall, it was a beautiful store but certainly not worth the hype (the LA Times called it a game-changer some months back). Prices and product were average, and selection was limited. One disappointment: they advertised Coke 12-packs for $2.69, and it didn't include anything but regular Coke (otherwise we would've picked up a case or two of Coke Zero). Will I return? Of course! But I'm not going to make a special trip to come here.
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Re: Amazon Fresh Irvine Now Open

Post by rwsandiego »

Thanks for the on-the-spot report. The only think I find surprising is the lack of "Ultra" laundry detergent. That usually means very concentrated, i.e. less packaging. One would think a delivery service would want smaller packages.

This does not sound like a "game changer" at all. However, if it gets the annoying Amazon shoppers out of the way at Whole Foods I am all for it.
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Re: Amazon Fresh Irvine Now Open

Post by storewanderer »

It may be a game changer if they build 2,000 of them in the next few years. The press keeps getting it wrong regarding Amazon and grocery. A whole lot of hype every time they open one new concept store somewhere that it is the end for the conventional grocers, but few new stores seem to ever materialize. Maybe one of these times, Amazon will get a concept that actually works and actually expand it to enough units that it really will put some pressure on the conventional grocers.

The CPGs like Tide are way over-SKUed in an effort to keep their shelf space. Laundry detergent is one of the best examples of being over-SKUed to keep competition out. Notice how rarely you even see private label laundry detergent, and if you do, only a couple of types. The big CPGs specifically P&G with Tide (and Gain/Cheer) pay so much for the shelf space that it isn't worth most retailer's while to pursue a private label laundry detergent. Another category where this seems to go on is Shampoo (which P&G also has quite a few claws in, though they have sold off some brands in recent years), and again there too you rarely see a private label.

However the day of reckoning is coming for these CPGs. For instance, Coke is cutting half of its brands.
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Re: Amazon Fresh Irvine Now Open

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote: October 25th, 2020, 7:36 pm It may be a game changer if they build 2,000 of them in the next few years. The press keeps getting it wrong regarding Amazon and grocery. A whole lot of hype every time they open one new concept store somewhere that it is the end for the conventional grocers, but few new stores seem to ever materialize. Maybe one of these times, Amazon will get a concept that actually works and actually expand it to enough units that it really will put some pressure on the conventional grocers.
I can't see how building 2,000 in the next few years could really be a benefit, usually that crashes and burns quickly (unless Amazon keeps them open as loss leaders). Even Walmart Supercenters didn't grow THAT fast in the 1990s.

Most of what I've read sounds pretty pedestrian and not really enough to hurt conventional grocers any more than a new competitor.
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Re: Amazon Fresh Irvine Now Open

Post by arizonaguy »

pseudo3d wrote: October 26th, 2020, 1:39 pm
storewanderer wrote: October 25th, 2020, 7:36 pm It may be a game changer if they build 2,000 of them in the next few years. The press keeps getting it wrong regarding Amazon and grocery. A whole lot of hype every time they open one new concept store somewhere that it is the end for the conventional grocers, but few new stores seem to ever materialize. Maybe one of these times, Amazon will get a concept that actually works and actually expand it to enough units that it really will put some pressure on the conventional grocers.
I can't see how building 2,000 in the next few years could really be a benefit, usually that crashes and burns quickly (unless Amazon keeps them open as loss leaders). Even Walmart Supercenters didn't grow THAT fast in the 1990s.

Most of what I've read sounds pretty pedestrian and not really enough to hurt conventional grocers any more than a new competitor.
This sounds a lot like a Walmart Neighborhood Market with better fresh product and no Pharmacy / HBA.

Walmart has even moved away from that concept (except in rare circumstances) as it really didn't offer the "one stop" experience of a supercenter but also didn't really offer much (other then pricing) advantages over a traditional supermarket.
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Re: Amazon Fresh Irvine Now Open

Post by Bagels »

I made my second trip into the Irvine store last night. Just a few more observations:

-- At 40,000 square feet, this is the largest "Amazon Fresh" under development. As I mentioned in my review, my biggest gripes about the store are that it feels tight and product selection is very limited. E.g. the space designated to the produce is much less than you'd expect, and there's fewer varieties of products and brands than at Ralphs and Albertsons. For example, the particular variety of Litehouse dressing, our favorite variety of Stouffer's entrees, etc. are not carried here. Even Ralph's mini stores in Laguna Beach and West Hollywood (Beverly Blvd.) manage to carry a larger selection -- albeit, they're much more cramped. Oh, and I was wrong -- they do carry a small variety of HBC products here.

-- The large reason this store feels cramped is the space dedicated to prepared foods. Just like Whole Foods, there's a hot foods bar, a large salad bar (neither are operable due to CA's COVID restrictions), pizza & sandwich bar, a huge variety of prepared meals as well as meal kits. The variety is much larger than that of Ralphs and Albertsons/VONS, although both chains have unsuccessfully tried to grow in this arena in the past. It seems to be working (so far) for Amazon, although the store continues to bring in huge crowds that may ultimately subside (there's still a line to get in). As I mentioned earlier, prices are reasonable ($13 for a blackened chicken breast dinner, $6 for a "gourmet" P&J sandwich or $8 for an artesian salad) but not "game changing", although we don't shop this category often.

-- All pricing is digital. And true to Amazon form, they must change often. Last week, our purchases included that $3.29 bottle of cleaner, a $1.99 box of granola bars and $5.99 frozen pie. Last night, the cleaner climbed to $4.49, the granola bars were $2.50 and the pie was $6.99 -- mind you, last week these were tagged as "every day low prices." It'll be interesting to see if they're experimenting with pricing at the moment, or if they plan to routinely change them.

-- Amazon has the lowest prices on basics. Bananas are 15c each, which equates to about 45c per pound (vs. 49c-69c elsewhere), milk is $2.66 a gallon for all varieties (vs. $2.88-$3.09 elsewhere, depending on the variety), a dozen large eggs are $1.69 (Walmart is $2.29, Albertsons/Ralphs/Stater Bros are $2.99 and higher; even my local Aldi is $1.99) and a rotisseries chicken is $4.77.

Overall my opinion is unchanged: a beautiful, basic grocery store.
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Re: Amazon Fresh Irvine Now Open

Post by storewanderer »

Bagels wrote: October 31st, 2020, 6:38 pm I made my second trip into the Irvine store last night. Just a few more observations:

-- At 40,000 square feet, this is the largest "Amazon Fresh" under development. As I mentioned in my review, my biggest gripes about the store are that it feels tight and product selection is very limited. E.g. the space designated to the produce is much less than you'd expect, and there's fewer varieties of products and brands than at Ralphs and Albertsons. For example, the particular variety of Litehouse dressing, our favorite variety of Stouffer's entrees, etc. are not carried here. Even Ralph's mini stores in Laguna Beach and West Hollywood (Beverly Blvd.) manage to carry a larger selection -- albeit, they're much more cramped. Oh, and I was wrong -- they do carry a small variety of HBC products here.

-- The large reason this store feels cramped is the space dedicated to prepared foods. Just like Whole Foods, there's a hot foods bar, a large salad bar (neither are operable due to CA's COVID restrictions), pizza & sandwich bar, a huge variety of prepared meals as well as meal kits. The variety is much larger than that of Ralphs and Albertsons/VONS, although both chains have unsuccessfully tried to grow in this arena in the past. It seems to be working (so far) for Amazon, although the store continues to bring in huge crowds that may ultimately subside (there's still a line to get in). As I mentioned earlier, prices are reasonable ($13 for a blackened chicken breast dinner, $6 for a "gourmet" P&J sandwich or $8 for an artesian salad) but not "game changing", although we don't shop this category often.

-- All pricing is digital. And true to Amazon form, they must change often. Last week, our purchases included that $3.29 bottle of cleaner, a $1.99 box of granola bars and $5.99 frozen pie. Last night, the cleaner climbed to $4.49, the granola bars were $2.50 and the pie was $6.99 -- mind you, last week these were tagged as "every day low prices." It'll be interesting to see if they're experimenting with pricing at the moment, or if they plan to routinely change them.

-- Amazon has the lowest prices on basics. Bananas are 15c each, which equates to about 45c per pound (vs. 49c-69c elsewhere), milk is $2.66 a gallon for all varieties (vs. $2.88-$3.09 elsewhere, depending on the variety), a dozen large eggs are $1.69 (Walmart is $2.29, Albertsons/Ralphs/Stater Bros are $2.99 and higher; even my local Aldi is $1.99) and a rotisseries chicken is $4.77.

Overall my opinion is unchanged: a beautiful, basic grocery store.
What is with that egg pricing down there in SoCal? Milk gallon is about the same range as NorCal except Safeway varies by store with some at 2.98 everyday and others at 3.50 everyday (Raleys is 2.98 everyday at all stores; Save Mart is varied pricing by store). NorCal Safeway large eggs are 1.98-2.45 per dozen depending on store (various prices in between).

Here in NV, WinCo and Wal Mart (and some Smiths) have been running large dozen eggs at 0.80-0.95 for the past four or five months. I think the system "feed" price at Smiths is 1.59 but most stores are lower due to their price surveys of Wal Marts.

Where does the Amazon milk appear to be coming from? Whole Foods private label milk in NorCal is bottled by Clover.
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Re: Amazon Fresh Irvine Now Open

Post by ClownLoach »

Bagels wrote: October 31st, 2020, 6:38 pm I made my second trip into the Irvine store last night. Just a few more observations:

-- At 40,000 square feet, this is the largest "Amazon Fresh" under development. As I mentioned in my review, my biggest gripes about the store are that it feels tight and product selection is very limited. E.g. the space designated to the produce is much less than you'd expect, and there's fewer varieties of products and brands than at Ralphs and Albertsons. For example, the particular variety of Litehouse dressing, our favorite variety of Stouffer's entrees, etc. are not carried here. Even Ralph's mini stores in Laguna Beach and West Hollywood (Beverly Blvd.) manage to carry a larger selection -- albeit, they're much more cramped. Oh, and I was wrong -- they do carry a small variety of HBC products here.

-- The large reason this store feels cramped is the space dedicated to prepared foods. Just like Whole Foods, there's a hot foods bar, a large salad bar (neither are operable due to CA's COVID restrictions), pizza & sandwich bar, a huge variety of prepared meals as well as meal kits. The variety is much larger than that of Ralphs and Albertsons/VONS, although both chains have unsuccessfully tried to grow in this arena in the past. It seems to be working (so far) for Amazon, although the store continues to bring in huge crowds that may ultimately subside (there's still a line to get in). As I mentioned earlier, prices are reasonable ($13 for a blackened chicken breast dinner, $6 for a "gourmet" P&J sandwich or $8 for an artesian salad) but not "game changing", although we don't shop this category often.

-- All pricing is digital. And true to Amazon form, they must change often. Last week, our purchases included that $3.29 bottle of cleaner, a $1.99 box of granola bars and $5.99 frozen pie. Last night, the cleaner climbed to $4.49, the granola bars were $2.50 and the pie was $6.99 -- mind you, last week these were tagged as "every day low prices." It'll be interesting to see if they're experimenting with pricing at the moment, or if they plan to routinely change them.

-- Amazon has the lowest prices on basics. Bananas are 15c each, which equates to about 45c per pound (vs. 49c-69c elsewhere), milk is $2.66 a gallon for all varieties (vs. $2.88-$3.09 elsewhere, depending on the variety), a dozen large eggs are $1.69 (Walmart is $2.29, Albertsons/Ralphs/Stater Bros are $2.99 and higher; even my local Aldi is $1.99) and a rotisseries chicken is $4.77.

Overall my opinion is unchanged: a beautiful, basic grocery store.
I've been in a few times and I find the assortment to be interesting to say the least... But I think that the bigger picture is that this is intended to be a e-commerce facility first. These stores are intentionally being operated for months only to do e-commerce sales for home delivery. During that time they have been tweaking the assortment, adding and subtracting items as they learn what customers want in this location. I do not believe that this was because of COVID-19 as the store was built out last year. I believe this is their strategy for operating and they will continue to build out and operate e-commerce only to learn the neighborhood then open their doors for additional walk in business. They have several more all built out and employees in the Irvine location are training there for the store they have been assigned nearby in Long Beach or Fullerton. For months I have ordered from this store and I have not experienced a single problem, item substitution, or late delivery. They have been absolutely flawless.
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Re: Amazon Fresh Irvine Now Open

Post by Bagels »

ClownLoach wrote: November 2nd, 2020, 7:22 am I've been in a few times and I find the assortment to be interesting to say the least... But I think that the bigger picture is that this is intended to be a e-commerce facility first. These stores are intentionally being operated for months only to do e-commerce sales for home delivery. During that time they have been tweaking the assortment, adding and subtracting items as they learn what customers want in this location. I do not believe that this was because of COVID-19 as the store was built out last year. I believe this is their strategy for operating and they will continue to build out and operate e-commerce only to learn the neighborhood then open their doors for additional walk in business. They have several more all built out and employees in the Irvine location are training there for the store they have been assigned nearby in Long Beach or Fullerton. For months I have ordered from this store and I have not experienced a single problem, item substitution, or late delivery. They have been absolutely flawless.
Amazon didn't begin the build out of the Irvine location until spring (presumably, COVID delayed construction). The time span between that of when construction was complete & the store opened to the general public was significantly less than it was in Woodland Hills. My best guess is that the gap exists for trial and training purposes; in the near future, stores will likely open with no gap.

And I don't believe e-commerce is as much a driving force behind the concept. Remember: these are beautiful stores, with upscale interiors featuring high-end fixtures, and a heavy emphasis o prepared foods. They're also located in high-traffic, high-rent areas. Think about it... less than 2.5 miles from this store, the former VONS (Haggen) in Tustin's Larwin Square has sat vacant and available for 5+ years (in an otherwise thriving shopping center). Amazon could've paid close to half the rent (not an insignificant expense around here), saved significantly in a buildout, operated it as a "box store" ... and still served the same geographic area via e-commerce.
storewanderer wrote: October 31st, 2020, 7:16 pm
What is with that egg pricing down there in SoCal? Milk gallon is about the same range as NorCal except Safeway varies by store with some at 2.98 everyday and others at 3.50 everyday (Raleys is 2.98 everyday at all stores; Save Mart is varied pricing by store). NorCal Safeway large eggs are 1.98-2.45 per dozen depending on store (various prices in between).

Here in NV, WinCo and Wal Mart (and some Smiths) have been running large dozen eggs at 0.80-0.95 for the past four or five months. I think the system "feed" price at Smiths is 1.59 but most stores are lower due to their price surveys of Wal Marts.

Where does the Amazon milk appear to be coming from? Whole Foods private label milk in NorCal is bottled by Clover.
Wholesale egg pricing in California (especially Southern) have trended about twice that of the national average since the humanity law was passed. That said, wholesale prices have settled in the past two years (sans that during the grocery rush following COVID) to around $1.50-$1.75 for a dozen large eggs - yet both Ralphs ($3.29) and Albertsons/VONS ($3.99) haven't lowered their shelf prices, although sales are pretty frequent. Food4Less actually has the lowest everyday pricing ($1.59, up from $1.49). Aldi was selling them (at a loss) for less than a $1, but as business improved, prices are now at $2.29, although sales around $1.69 are frequent.

While I mentioned that Amazon has the lowest prices on staples, Food4Less actually beats them ($1.69 for eggs, $2.49 for all varieties of milk), although an insignificant number of people considering Amazon would shop at F4L. Not to get off topic, but Kroger recently brought back the Mountain Dairy brand for F4L's milk and eggs, with the Kroger brand selling at a premium (of course, they're the same product).

I'll have to check up on the milk, but Whole Foods was using Dean's last time I checked.
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Re: Amazon Fresh Irvine Now Open

Post by storewanderer »

Bagels wrote: November 7th, 2020, 7:15 pm

Wholesale egg pricing in California (especially Southern) have trended about twice that of the national average since the humanity law was passed. That said, wholesale prices have settled in the past two years (sans that during the grocery rush following COVID) to around $1.50-$1.75 for a dozen large eggs - yet both Ralphs ($3.29) and Albertsons/VONS ($3.99) haven't lowered their shelf prices, although sales are pretty frequent. Food4Less actually has the lowest everyday pricing ($1.59, up from $1.49). Aldi was selling them (at a loss) for less than a $1, but as business improved, prices are now at $2.29, although sales around $1.69 are frequent.

While I mentioned that Amazon has the lowest prices on staples, Food4Less actually beats them ($1.69 for eggs, $2.49 for all varieties of milk), although an insignificant number of people considering Amazon would shop at F4L. Not to get off topic, but Kroger recently brought back the Mountain Dairy brand for F4L's milk and eggs, with the Kroger brand selling at a premium (of course, they're the same product).

I'll have to check up on the milk, but Whole Foods was using Dean's last time I checked.
That is quite a variance between Ralphs and F4L for the same eggs. The F4L pricing is more like the Smiths pricing if there is not a competitor nearby with a lower price for them to match.

Smiths has had Mountain Dairy milk all along but that brand is not on anything else. Mountain Dairy is an old Smiths brand. It is interesting this brand has survived the brand consolidations of Kroger.
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